Abbreviation | EUDEC |
---|---|
Formation | March 2009[1] |
Type | Nonprofit organisation |
Region | Europe |
Services | Supporting democratic education throughout Europe. |
Official language | English |
Main organ | Dorianne De Groot (chair), Stella Serger (vice-chair), Katrin Saage (treasurer) [2] |
Website | www.eudec.org |
The European Democratic Education Community (EUDEC) is a European non-profit organisation that promotes democratic education as a sensible educational model for all democratic states. [3] EUDEC aims to further democratic education in Europe. Founded in February 2008 [1] [4] [5] as a project of the United Kingdom-based Phoenix Education Trust, the organisation has been an independently registered non-profit [2] NGO in Germany since 2009.
EUDEC's members are individuals, schools and institutions throughout Europe with decades of experience in democratic education.
The organisation of EUDEC reflects the democratic education philosophy which advocates that school students should play an active role at all levels of the organisation: e.g. as individual members, in conference-planning, the organisation of programmes and on the EUDEC Council itself.
EUDEC facilitates a network of mutually supportive democratic education practitioners and institutions through the exchange of online information about democratic education in theory and practice, publications, conferences, meetings and seminars, school partnerships and exchanges.
Individuals, schools, school start-up groups and organisations may become members of the Community. [6] As of November 2018 the Community represents some 8000 people in 72 groups from 29 countries including over 7,800 school students, 44 schools, 26 start-up groups and 2 organisations including the German National Association of Free Alternative Schools (BFAS) and UK-based Phoenix Education Trust, as well as about 400 individual members. [4]
EUDEC is mentioned in several publications about inclusion in education. [7] [8] [9]
EUDEC seeks collaboration with other European organisations concerned with education such as the Council of Europe, the European Union through its Erasmus Programme, the Swiss Union of Student Organisations (USO) [10] and the Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU). [11] It seeks dialogue and information exchange with national state education systems through these international activities. In 2016, EUDEC participated in the World Forum for Democracy organized by the Council of Europe. [12] In 2018, a EUDEC member school, the Netzwerk Schule (Berlin), participated with 10 state schools from many countries in the Council of Europe Free to Speak, Safe to Learn. Democratic Schools for All project conference held at the European Wergeland Centre [13] in Oslo. [14] [15]
EUDEC also seeks dialogue with state school systems at the national level through its growing number of national chapters such as EUDEC HUNGARY, EUDEC FRANCE and EUDEC GREECE.
In 2008/2009, EUDEC was an official project of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development of the United Nations. [16] The Community was formed in parallel with the European Democratic Education Conference, which is now a part of the Community's regular activities. The conference, which takes place annually, also includes the EUDEC's annual general assembly of members, in which officers of the community are elected and decisions are made about Community policy. Every two years the Community elects a Council of 7 to 11 members who administer its business between assemblies.
There are two main pillars of democratic education: self directed/managed learning in a community based on democratic process and human rights with equality and mutual respect between adults and children/young people. Students in democratic schools and universities choose how to spend their time in school, pursue their interests and prepare themselves for their lives and chosen careers. Learning can take place in classrooms, as in conventional schools, but also in many ways outside classrooms as informal learning, such as independent study, internet research, internships, playing games, volunteering, doing projects, visiting museums, travel and discussions with friends and teachers. The best setting for living, learning, or indeed working, is one in which our rights and opinions are respected. Democratic schools have school meetings in which all members of the community have an equal vote, regardless of age or status. Students and teachers sit together as equals to discuss and vote on school rules, curricula, projects, the hiring of staff and budgetary matters. This process is one of the ways that democratic schools create an environment in which children can flourish and grow up to be tolerant, open-minded, responsible individuals who know how to express their opinions and listen to those of others and be active citizens of a modern democratic society. They are well equipped to manage their own lives and create their own identities and thus to face the emerging challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The first EUDEC Conference [17] [18] took place in Leipzig, Germany from 25 July – 3 August 2008. Since 2008, there has been an EUDEC annual general meeting or conference each year. The events are listed below in chronological order:
Leonard Nelson, sometimes spelt Leonhard, was a German mathematician, critical philosopher, and socialist. He was part of the neo-Friesian school of neo-Kantianism and a friend of the mathematician David Hilbert. He devised the Grelling–Nelson paradox in 1908 and the related idea of autological words with Kurt Grelling.
The International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) is an annual academic and youth conference hosted by a variety of schools and organizations in cities around the world. It is a global gathering of educators, students, parents, and advocates who are interested in democratic education.
Democratic education is a type of formal education that is organized democratically, so that students can manage their own learning and participate in the governance of their educational environment. Democratic education is often specifically emancipatory, with the students' voices being equal to the teachers'.
Albin Alfred Baeumler, was an Austrian-born German philosopher, pedagogue and prominent Nazi ideologue. From 1924 he taught at the Technische Universität Dresden, at first as an unsalaried lecturer Privatdozent. Bäumler was made associate professor (Extraordinarius) in 1928 and full professor (Ordinarius) a year later. From 1933 he taught philosophy and political education in Berlin as the director of the Institute for Political Pedagogy.
Sands School is a private democratic school in Ashburton, Devon in England.
The European Democratic Education Conference (EUDEC) is an annual conference of the European Democratic Education Community, a European network of people involved in democratic education. The first conference was held in Leipzig, Germany, from 25 July – 3 August 2008. The organisation of the 2008 conference was largely independent of the EUDEC Community, as the latter was founded in February 2008 after over a year of conference groundwork. Following the first conference, the dates, locations and content of conferences are determined by the Community.
The Bavarian International School gAG (BIS) is an English-language International Baccalaureate-curriculum international school based in Haimhausen, a municipality in the district Dachau in Bavaria, Germany, just north of Munich. In 2016, a second campus in Munich-Schwabing (Leopoldstraße) was opened for primary students. The school currently has a combined enrolment of approximately 1200 students aged 3 to 18 from over 52 countries speaking more than 70 languages. The 2-campus-school is run by the non-profit association Bavarian International School gAG
A democratic school refers to an alternative school that meets the following criteria:
Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk is a German historian and author. His work is focused on the German Democratic Republic and its Ministry for State Security.
Sevim Çelebi-Gottschlich is a former German Politician. She served from 1987 to 1989 in the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin, the state parliament of Berlin.
Heike Fleßner was a German educationalist and professor, whose work focused on social education and social work. She was a Professor of Social Pedagogy at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg from 1996 until her retirement in 2009. Her scientific work focuses on analytics and conceptual developments in the field of gender- and diversity-conscious social education. For many years, Fleßner was involved in social policy and the institutional anchoring of public toddler care and early childhood education.
Hans Richert was a German school reformer, teacher, headmaster and philosopher.
Bertrand Stern is a German author and philosopher living in Siegburg. He describes himself as a freischaffender Philosoph.
Anna, die Schule und der liebe Gott: Der Verrat des Bildungssystems an unseren Kindern is a non-fiction book written by German philosopher and author Richard David Precht and published in 2013 by Goldmann Verlag.
alfaview is a software for lip-synchronized video conferences, specializing in virtual online meetings, seminars, training sessions and conferences. It was developed in Germany.
The (Allgemeine) Schulpflicht is a statutory regulation in Germany that obliges children and adolescents up to a certain age to attend a school. The Schulpflicht includes not only regular and punctual school attendance, but also participation in lessons and other school events, as well as doing homework.
Margret Rasfeld is a German author, activist and headmistress in active retirement. She is the co-founder and current managing director of the initiative Schule im Aufbruch and has been elected Ashoka Fellow since 2015. Rasfeld advocates a reorientation of school education according to the guidelines of the UNESCO campaign Education for sustainable development (ESD).
Theodor Litt was a German culture and social philosopher as well as a pedagogue.
Psychologie und Schule is a German book published in 1920 by the German author Otto Lipmann. It was published by the Julius Beltz publishing company and is book 47 of the series Aktuelle Fragen aus der Pädagogik der Gegenwart, issued by Max Reiniger. The book discusses the field of use of psychology in the school environment. By writing it Lipmann wanted to teach the readers about the development of modern psychology in 1920 and its relation to pedagogy. It incorporates topics with regard to education that are also dealt with in the 21st century and gives insights into the progress made in the 20th century.
Rabeya Müller, also Rabeya Müller-Haque was a German Islamic scholar, Muslim theologian, imam and religious educator.